Jury finds construction company negligent

Jaynes Corp. on Thursday was found negligent in the 2006 construction of an addition to the Albuquerque Tortilla Co. where mold was found, leading to a succession of problems for the family-owned food business, according to the Albuquerque Journal.

The tortilla company stands to receive $5 million based on the verdict, including $1.5 million in punitive damages against Jaynes, the Journal reported.

ATC claimed in its lawsuit that the mold problem had been hidden. Jaynes said it had told ATC about the mold after it had a remediation plan in place and had accepted responsibility, according to the Journal. Jaynes attributed the mold to wet weather. The tortilla company blamed haste in installing sheetrock before the roof was in place, the Journal reported.

A jury heard two weeks of testimony and deliberated for two days before returning its verdict late Thursday.

Besides finding Jaynes negligent, the jury agreed Jaynes breached its fiduciary duty and that its acts or omissions were the cause of damages to the tortilla company, the Journal reported. It also found that ATC had failed to mitigate its damages, and it assigned 20 percent of the fault to the food company and 80 percent to Jaynes, reducing the total damages award to a net of $3,578,446.

It found no fraud by Jaynes but awarded punitive damages of $1.5 million. Chris Martineztold the Journal his family was forced to sell the tortilla company two years ago when it was faced with the alternative of losing it.